I have spent quite some time on AliE searching and waiting for good offers. I bought all my gear on the Black Friday sale. R088 frame, ER7 groupset, elite ENT 2.0 Wheels, Kocevlo stem and handlebar, Riro crank set and the other small stuff. AliE regularly has good offers but you should take your time and wait for the moment.

Hi everyone — and also hi to the Spcycle team if you're reading along

Thanks for all the insights I was able to read here before ordering the Spcycle New Mold SP-R088 frame.

Shipping was quite fast:
Ordered: Jan 12, 2026 → Delivered: Feb 3, 2026

However, I’ve run into two issues and would really appreciate the community’s thoughts and experiences.

1. Damage to the frame during transport

Unfortunately — and I’ve read this happened to someone else before — the UDH appears to have contacted the frame during shipping. As a result, a small piece of carbon and paint has chipped off.

I’ve discussed this with the seller, who indicated it looks like cosmetic (paint) damage rather than structural carbon damage. A partial refund was mentioned as a possible solution, but I’m first trying to understand how serious (or common) this type of damage is on delivery.

2. Asymmetry in the rear triangle

At the risk of sounding naive: does anyone else have a rear triangle like this?
The right seatstay has a noticeable curve, while the left side looks straight (see photo). I installed the wheel this morning and, fortunately, it sits straight in the frame.

The seller explained that many frames use an asymmetric rear triangle design, which I understand in theory, but visually it still surprised me — so I’m curious if other SP-R088 owners see the same shape.

Just hoping to learn from other owners whether this all falls within normal expectations for this frame.

Does this match your experience?

Thanks in advance!
Freddy

Hi everyone — and also hi to the Spcycle team if you're reading along

Thanks for all the insights I was able to read here before ordering the Spcycle New Mold SP-R088 frame.

Shipping was quite fast:
Ordered: Jan 12, 2026 → Delivered: Feb 3, 2026

However, I’ve run into two issues and would really appreciate the community’s thoughts and experiences.

1. Damage to the frame during transport

Unfortunately — and I’ve read this happened to someone else before — the UDH appears to have contacted the frame during shipping. As a result, a small piece of carbon and paint has chipped off.

I’ve discussed this with the seller, who indicated it looks like cosmetic (paint) damage rather than structural carbon damage. A partial refund was mentioned as a possible solution, but I’m first trying to understand how serious (or common) this type of damage is on delivery.

2. Asymmetry in the rear triangle

At the risk of sounding naive: does anyone else have a rear triangle like this?
The right seatstay has a noticeable curve, while the left side looks straight (see photo). I installed the wheel this morning and, fortunately, it sits straight in the frame.

The seller explained that many frames use an asymmetric rear triangle design, which I understand in theory, but visually it still surprised me — so I’m curious if other SP-R088 owners see the same shape.

Just hoping to learn from other owners whether this all falls within normal expectations for this frame.

Does this match your experience?

Thanks in advance!
Freddy

After some armchair watching I would also agree that it's potentially a c-ring problem. Or at least that's what I would check next. On my velobuild 099 the first version c-rings were slightly too short, and this allowed the c-ring to ride up the steerer tube slightly and no longer fully locate the steerer in the bearing.  This allowed the fork steerer to move way more than it should and flex about. I think I saw the headset cover gap changing when he was sprinting on the bike.  https://imgur.com/a/ra9TKWU



My eventual solution was a big (and then slightly smaller with the v2 c-ring) stack of microspacers on top of the c-ring. I used mechanical 105 so there was a big inflexible bunch of hoses/housing pushing around the c-ring. I also bought and tried a longer expander plug and it did nothing without the spacers. However, no empirical evidence, but the longer expander plug has way more surface area and must provide way more grip, which would be less chance of slipping, and better at sandwhiching everything all together.